Monday, September 13, 2010

Day Two Of Your Turn: Sprint Cup Series On ABC From Richmond, VA

What a night! College football covered portions of the pre-race show and then the race turned into a parade of commercials from start to finish.

Allen Bestwick had only a short time to get comments from Ray Evernham, Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty from the Infield Pit Studio. Tim Brewer was in the Tech Garage.

It was the "A Team" of Marty Reid, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree who called the race from the TV booth. Down on pit road were Dr. Jerry Punch, Jamie Little, Dave Burns and Vince Welch.

The race started on time with all the TV markets except one on time for the start. ABC was into commercial before lap 8 and this was the theme of the night. At the track, the crowd all waved American flags on laps 9 and 11 in a tribute to the fallen US citizens of the terrorist attacks. Despite the fact that the TV guys knew about it, they went to commercial.

The rest of the telecast featured only one rain delay. There were no technical issues and the pictures and sound were solid.

Update: Fans of Marcos Ambrose and other top ten drivers filled my email after the checkered flag. ESPN's director chose to show only Denny Hamlin finish the race and showed no other lead lap cars finish. This despite the fact that drivers were racing not only for the finish of the race, but for place in the Chase for the Championship.

This post is our opportunity for you to offer a post-race wrap-up of the ESPN on ABC coverage of the Sprint Cup Series from Richmond. To add your comment, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for stopping by.

Now that the NFL season has started, I will be only checking in on Nascar sporadically. At least networks know how to show stick and ball sports, unlike ESPN who obviously has absolutely no idea how to broadcast a Nascar race that coherent, interesting and doesn't focus on just a few drivers and who don't fall in love with silly technology that is usually not germane to what's going on. And again unlike NFL, Nascar broadcasts are nothing more than commercials broken up by a few laps of racing.

I just wish there was someone, anyone, with a little power in the sport, who would have the guts to tell Nascar that the sport is not working, and one of the major reasons is the terrible broadcasts. But like I've said all season, you can only work with what you've got, and Nascar has a broken program that's chasing fans away in record numbers.

This race broadcast sucked WAAYYY to much focus on the leader, I wanna see some good racing and I plan on saving my money next year and I dont care if I have to take many road trips by myself but im going to the track to watch races live this tv coverage needs some Help!!! Maybe its the chase but I feel tv coverage could be and should be more balanced so we can actually show the race and get some updates on the Chase then you will have some happy fans! D+

I thought the telecast was the worst Richmond I have ever watched. The booth monkeys jabbered all night and yet they said almost nothing. They would talk about "action" on the track that we couldn't see on the TV screen. I don't know how the race was in person but it was terribly boring on the tube. I wasted my time when I could have been watching a much better football game.

This was not the Richmond shorttrack racing I remember. The rubbing and bumping was not evident.

The coverage was poor. Everything ESPN needs to fix has been beaten to death the past few weeks. ESPN suprised all the first half of the season, but their quality has fallen off the past few weeks. Ratings will contiune to fall or stay flat.

The Chase hype starts next weekend, but I'm not sure if I even want to watch.

A favorite line from one of my favorite shows, "how hard can it be" to show the lead lap cars crossing the finish line? Thought the broadcast was off a little but we mainly watched Hamlin Hotpass. Unfortunately, the sound kept on going off and on don't know what the problem was. We were out and missed the pre-race but now the chase is on will we see any other drivers except those 12??? Doubt it!

I had forgotten about that tribute. I generally don't see too much issue in the broadcast, but today it was really obvious, they were going to commercial once every ten mins or so. It was bad. The race itself was good, but coverage was bad.

Would somebody please give me a life so I have something else to do besides watch these sucky races on tv? I'm now just watching out of habbit. Enjoyment is gone.

The coverage tonight was extra horrid. There was the usual tight camera shots that did NOT show the racing. I want racing, not pretty cars going in circles. And show the end of the race for ALL the cars, please!!

The booth was horrid. Just jabbering away with their script about contrived drama. Only thing that was different this week was that a lot of the time it was hard to hear them. The sound mix was off. The track racing sounds were so loud that a lot of time they drowning out the booth. Furthermore, constant car engine noise will put me to sleep. I don't have a surround sound system, just a Vizio flat screen. Maybe it sounds exciting in surround sound, but in regular tv sound it's an insomnia cure. Or rather it would be if not for all the commercial interruptions!!

This was just horrid. Like I said, somebody please give me a life with something else to do.....

so jd tells us this is the most read blog each week. with that in mind: another open letter to ESPN

dear ESPN, where is the disconnect between what we tell you each week we want to see as fans and what you put on the air? some of our feedback has unfortunately degenerated from specific, non-emotional feedback to frustrated accusations that can be all too easily dismissed. you have the cream of the racing season to cover and yet you continue to treat the broadcast like "nascar 101" for some mythical viewer who has decided to suddenly begin watching our sport & needs the most basic aspect of our sport explained -- repeatedly, each broadcast.

the unrelenting focus on the chase drivers has had an impact on our sport. sponsors are harder to get and hold because they don't want to be on any car not in the top 10. they know they'll get minimal tv time and are no longer willing to step up and sponsor even the most recognizable teams, like the 24. the structure of your broadcasts for the past several years has contributed greatly to that mentality.

as for the fans: when the vast majority of fans develop their impressions of our sport from what they see on your broadcast, you do a disservice to our sport to put such an inferior product on the air. you lead fans to believe the racing is as bad as you show it and so they don't make the effort to try to get to a race. they decide the racing itself is substandard when the problem is actually your broadcast.

52 minutes of racing tonight; 22 minutes of commercials. that should be as appalling to you as it is to me. but i doubt it is. you see those 22 minutes as the way to pay the abc broadcast bill. i saw them as the reason to actually turn off the race. so your sponsor never got my eyeballs. a waste all around.

i love our sport. but i don't think you even have any respect for it, let alone a passion for showing it at its best. and that impression that you have created makes me wonder if i'll even commit the next 10 weekends to you. so again, we both lose. is that truly what you want for our sport and for your broadcast partners?

read the blogs, visit the chat rooms, scroll through twitter.these are resources that can help you find out what fans really think about what you do each week. in my corner of the business world, such uncensored feedback would be treated as a goldmine, an asset.

instead, i feel as if you just see it as the braying of asses. your loss.

I did not see the beginning but when they went to commercial during the opening laps that was the straw that broke the camels back. Fans waved the americanflag from laps 9 to 11 in rememberence of 9-11, still in commercial. That was classless folks. NASCAR fans are as american as can be. I hope ESPN is satisfied. They will be getting complaints about it and I hope it haunts them until the cows come home. NASCAR should be just as satisfied for selling out the fan for the almighty dollar. ESPN and NASCAR are stubborn mules and as long as we continue to watch these abortions NOTHING WILL CHANGE.

All the negativity expressed on this website is depressing. Yes,I would like to see a finish line shot rather than winners celebrating.NASCAR has dumbed down the cup series to the point where individual races aren't as important as they should be and this race in particular wasn't important except for the winner and the last two chasers (neither of which were in doubt near the end of the race). They need to take a million or two of championship money and add it to what the 36 race winners receive.

On the eve of NASCAR playoffs, ESPN goes to post race coverage 10 minutes after its scheduled time, and roughly two hours after the race, thankfully SPEED had Victory Lane on tonight, good hour of coverage.

Was actually watching ESPN News, and they must have spent five minutes talking about this "Patriotic" Saturday and how it all related to College Football .. seriously? Did anyone do the pledge of allegiance at any football game today? Was their a flyover, national anthem, servicemen and women, not to mention the flag waving? The race highlights made it look like after 400 grueling laps, Denny Hamlin wrestled the lead from JPM. Wow.

ESPN did manage to catch every restart, which is more than I can say for the Nationwide race, then again, there were only 3 restarts.

I continue to be faced with a conundrum .. I love NASCAR, but hate ESPN, yet have no other way to watch.

If ESPN isn't going to pay attention to blogs like this, maybe it's time to start writing to NASCAR sponsors, explaining the fans of the most loyal sport in this country are fed up with its broadcasts and aren't really paying attention to their ads.

Here's what I just sent to the ABC affiliate here in Fargo (WDAY). I tried to be nice....

To whom it may concern,

I'm writing to object to how long the 6 PM news ran after its delayed start tonight, and especially I object that it pre-empted the first laps of the Nascar race.

I realize that the preceding program (college football game) took much more than its scheduled time, but why wasn't the 6 PM news at least shortened so that Nascar fans in the Red River Valley could see the beginning of the race? It seemed like a standard-length 6 PM broadcast and given the late start there was no way for it to end in time for the race.

Also I object that the 6 PM news was scheduled for tonight at all, since ESPN was planning on their "Nascar Countdown" pre-race show airing between the football coverage and the actual race show. Tonight's race was an important one being the last of the "regular season", deciding which 12 drivers would compete in the "post season" for the championship. 10 drivers had secure "playoff berths" but there were two berths still open with five drivers still eligible. So the decision to not air the first half hour of Nascar programming left fans in the dark about what the possible scenarios were for these drivers.

If the roles were reversed with a Nascar race running long and a football game afterward, would WDAY pre-empt the football pre-game and join the game after a few minutes in the 1st quarter? I think in that case the football fans would be sending unhappy emails like this one.

I realize there are many in the area who want to watch the 6 PM news; however there are many here also who love Nascar. (Look at the turnouts when Tony Stewart has visited the Red River Valley Speedway, or take note of all the Nascar stickers you see on peoples' cars.) Tonight's scheduling decisions certainly weren't right for Nascar fans, I don't think they were right for WDAY, and I think they set a bad precedent for fans of other sports.

I was disappointed but not surprised of the only showing Denny crossing & then going to Coach :(. I'm sure the extra minute or so wait would have been fine with Coach.

And I was SO PISSED when they were at commercial with the tribute was going on. Yes I know the bills had to be paid but COME ON! It was laps 9 and 11! We're not asking them to stick around for 50 laps first! Do you really have to go to commercial THAT early? :(

Anon 12:19--as JD said this is their 4th year covering this. I know full well they have folks who KNOW how to broadcast a NA$CAR race! Heck, they show the races (sadly condensed) on Classic so they have access to them still! They can watch the videos! We've screamed, we've yelled, we've emailed, we've tweeted and it all falls on deaf ears :(. Short of all of us taking a road trip to Bristol I don't know what more we can do, they flat out DO NOT CARE!

Its NFL season so lets make the Nascar broadcasts suck and people will tune out! Its simple, and no not a conspiracy theres no way in heck you go from top notch broadcasts the first 3 or 4 races and then give us this!!!! Its simple ABC big platform....... NFL season........ Lets kill the broadcast so people wont watch going into the Chase! ESPN wants out of this bad as is evident by what there giving us! Yes sooooo true 4 years on the air and we still get this???? ESPN is out to destroy Nascar and there doing a great job sucks but what can we do?

It was very obvious that football is more important than the last race of the regular season for this network. How can anyone expect a loyal fan to keep watching these commercials waiting for a race to break out? At least Wrestling knows when to go to commercial.

Where does Marty Reid come up with the stuff he say's. He just keeps yakking even if it doesn't match whats really happening on the screen. He tries to make drama where there isn't close to any. If he says someone is catching or passing someone it's usually happened before he said it or it's not happening at all. At least he could get the names right more often. And every moment does not need to be covered with talk. Shades of DW and Mikey!

Then we have Jamie Little and Vince Welch. With all the noise, all the action, all the stress, these two can stretch one question to a crew chief longer than it would take most of us to give our life history. It's almost like these three actually believe they are the actual show. That the racing and crew people doing their jobs, making snap decisions, are the sidebar to them.

Mike Joy, Andy Petrie, Dale Jarrett, Jerry Punch, are the cream of the crop, the rest I could easily do without.

Paul Brooks, NA$CAR exec, wasspouting last week about ESPN commitments to NA$CAR. ESPN iscommited about as much as a kamikaze pilot on his third mission. The programming mightlook good to the suits, but to theveteran fans it is an insult. We are tired of the dumb downs presented weekly. Dump the fauxexcitement and the tech garage.

I viewed the Hot Pass channels lastnight, and other than a few soundproblems, the MRN boys made theESPN babblers look like rookies.

• Not showing the laps 9 & 11 tribute. I had no idea that had happened until I read it here. Makes one wonder how BSPN would have handled the lap 3 tributes to Earnhardt.

• Going to commercial with only 27 laps left on a short track! Isn't that the same as going to commercial with 10 laps left at Charlotte/Texas/etc.?

So disappointing in so many ways.

The incident of Bill France, Jr. facing down Fox after the 2001 Daytona 500 over the cars' sponsor affiliations not being shown is seared in my mind as an example of how impotent and money grubbing NASCAR management has become since then.

If ever there was a time in this sport for a real leader to step forward and right this sinking ship, this must be it. Sadly, the person most likely to do that died at the end of the 2001 Daytona 500.

And yet another week of poor NA$CAR coverage slips by. Week after week, the same old song. I feel bad for the people who just want to see good stock car racing. Only way to fix this and get the sport back, is to turn it off people, turn it off and don't come back till it's fixed. Send a loud strong message to the powers who have trashed this sport as they laugh all the way to the bank. They don't deserve the time you loyal fans spend trying to follow this sport.

As NFL season starts, I can't help but think that NASCAR's problem is that it is trying to be more like the NFL, but has ignored the biggest reason the NFL is a success: the NFL assures that its networks cover the sport PROPERLY. The NFL television product is amazing. The same cannot be said in NASCAR.

NASCAR seems to have no control over the quality or content of their broadcasts. The problem with NASCAR isn't the quality of racing, it isn't the Chase, it isn't Jimmie Johnson winning too many races, and it isn't Dale Jr being a backmarker. The problem is that if ESPN decides that the Chase is more important than the race, that's how they cover the event, and the fans don't get to see the racing. And the TV ratings show the results of this poor coverage. It appears that NASCAR has no control over what is shown on TV, and until they take back the control, we as fans will continue to suffer.

I guessed the finish time right caught the last 7 laps to see who won. I cannot watch NASCAR races on abc/espn anymore start to finish. I now only watch Daytona, Talladega , & Bristol all the way through, the rest are commercial snooze fest with a handful of laps of racing occasionally. Why can't we have side by side window with non stop coverage of green flag laps.

When Marty Reid starting doing the NW races on ESPN, he actually called the director's attention to a part of the track where there was actual racing going on and to get the camera to follow it. I don't notice it as much on the cup broadcasts, maybe he's just given up, or it's just been a long weekend for him. Someone also mentioned about them going to commercials with 27 laps left I thought that was really strange because we could be coming back live with only a few laps left.

Absolutly pathetic. I learned more from The Daly Planet's Blog post than I did all night last night. Terrible. I had hoped that ESPN/ABC had gotten their act together, but looks like that was for not.

The one positive was Marty Reid handling the difficult broadcast. He must be in a difficult position. I watched a YouTube clip from the Fall 2009 Talladega race this week and there has been substantial improvement in this department.

At the rate we are going, NASCAR is going to have to be shown on Tuesday nights on SPEED during the Chase.

Boring, scripted commentary, poor camera work, missed restarts, and an over-abundance of commercials have become the hallmark of BSPN. And it'll get worse as the play-offs moves along.

If BSPN really does want out of the contract, then they need to come out and say so and pass it along to a network that can actually show some racing and have decent commentary. Since NA$CAR's play-off hype is about drama, give it to TNT. They know drama.

If I didn't know some of the guys working in the garage I'd quit watching.

I was watching on Hotpass. I am assuming they were using the ESPN/ABC feed for pics. There were no ads shown on that "box" (there were a few that I believe were Directv shown ads).

Anyway, at one point I did see a shot of the crowd waving flags. Wasn't sure what was going on as no audio from TV feed and MRN never mentioned. Only when I saw comments here did I realize it was laps 9 & 11. Shame not highlighted.

I have to admit I did not watch the race last night at Richmond. It meant nothing so why waste 4hrs?? The points will be reset and the Harvick will no longer be the leader. Their work all season will be stolen from them by Nascar. As far as I'm concerned the season is over and Harvick won. He simply deserves a Huge Trophy for his, and his teams work all season. They didn't "scate" throught the first 26 races. Now it's time for the NFL.

And speaking of the NFL. Just watched the first half of the Giants/Panthers game on Fox. Wow - Completly professionally done broadcast. Fox makes Nascar look like a grade show game. No wonder most people don't accept Nascar as a real sport. It's simply not presented that way on TV.

As a long term viewer of Nascar, if I choose to not watch a race because it's totally not important then that's my choice. If JD decides to post it that's his choice. I Do Beleive this blog is about the state of Nascar on Tv. Right? So therefore, when long term fans are shunning a race due to that race not being important in the championship I see no harm in stating that simple fact.

@anon 4:51. Don't have a clue who tony Siragusa is. ??

What I do know is Fox is capable of putting on a professional NFL production. And I simply do not understand why, when if comes to Nascar, they put on a clown show.

Hi all - back from the race. And serously considering not renewing our season tickets.

Why, you ask? This is our fav track - we've gone for years. And this year has been a bust. Both spring and fall races: snooze fests. Just boring as all get out. Why are there so many commercials? Because there's nothing to show on the track!

I was praying for a fake caution. No kidding. Anything to shake it up.

Single file racing, very little excitement, all the drivers on their best behaviour. My husband and I have decided the problem is the car itself. This isn't IROC with the same car packages, this is Nascar, for heaven't sake! I just don't see why you have to have this car in a box for every team. Surely the safety innovations can be incorporated into each manufacturer's unique package.

TV can't make silk out of soy. Richmond has never, until this new car, been boring. Yes, there were an abundance of empty seats in the cheaper sections as well as the higher end. In our section, only three groups of us remain from the original season ticket holders. Used to be we all clung to our ticket packages for dear life. Now? Huge empty patches. And what's worse, groups walking out after an hour, an hour and a half of boring racing. Just packing up and going home.

At least if we'd been home, we could have turned the race off and done something else. Bah humbug on Nascar. They've killed a good thing. Not ESPN.

A bit off topic but i notice NFL and MLB on Fox are in widescreen, is Nascar on Fox going to be in widescreen next year? I really hope not cause i couldnt see a thing during my Braves/Panthers games. Its the only time ive wanted a producer to zoom in.

Tracy D, did you attend the NW race? If you did, I was wondering how that race was. I really like the new NW cars but I don't want that series to become like the cup series. The race didn't look like the old races there. Next year Nascar will have to spice up the races someway. Maybe more debris cautions??? LOL

What can you say? Is nobody out there listening? Nascar is dying a slow death and management, starting with B.France down to the production truck, are not seeing it. espn, in refusing to change how they show the race, is sucking the passion out of the joy of watching the race. Does anyone feel good about someone in charge seeing it? I agree with an earlier post: "Last one out, please turn off the lights." MC

I was very disappointed in the coverage of the race. I've been to Richmond in person enough to know that it is usually a pretty good race, but what the fans saw on TV last night wouldn't convince anyone they need to go to a race.

I didn't tune in until 7:30 because I knew college football was on and I figured there wouldn't be much pre-race and I was right. When ABC went to commercial on lap 7, I knew it was going to be a waste of time to try and get much information from the TV coverage.

ABC/ESPN blew the coverage big time and finished with an absolute whimper by not showing anyone but the leader at the finish line. C'mon people do you think I watched the end to not see where my driver wound up?

10 races to go - if the coverage is going to continue to be this bad, I'll be channel surfing between the NFL games and hopefully see some racing in between the commercial overload and whatever other nonsense such as Tim Brewer, Brad D's lame comments that ESPN feels the need to fill the tv broadcast with.

This is my last TV comment here for the season. Why? Because I dont expect anything good from the Chase race coverage, and I'm tired of the griping even from myself, because there's nothing to be done about it til 2014, apparently.

What's pissed me off most is that my local ABC affiliate didn't stay with SCHEDULED slotted ESPN NASCAR post race coverage, when there were more interviews & all the Chase drivers would be presented. All I saw was the winner interview them BLAM!! local news instead. Total BS in a town with deep NASCAR ties.

Its not the car, or the drivers, or the owners or the races. Non-NASCAR originated TV coverage is whats killing NASCAR. There's no doubt in my mind.

What can you say? Is nobody out there listening? Nascar is dying a slow death and management, starting with B.France down to the production truck, are not seeing it. espn, in refusing to change how they show the race, is sucking the passion out of the joy of watching the race. Does anyone feel good about someone in charge seeing it? I agree with an earlier post: "Last one out, please turn off the lights." MC

Not much different this weekend including the ESPN/ABC football vs Nascar scrum. If I hear "The Chase" one more time, I'm going to puke! I lasted for about three minutes of Race Day (which is usually totally useless) only to miss the last portion of the 711th interview with Clint Bowyer. What I've learned is to avoid TV until the race actually starts. The media reminds me of seven year olds playing football where everybdy covers the ball. This week it'll be the second coming of Denny Hamlin. For weeks they were engraving Harvick's name on the Championship trophy. Now its "Kevin who?" Don't you just love it?

Seven laps into a race where laps go in the low 20-second range and they go to a commercial. Terrible. It would have been nice to mix in some racing within the commercials, but there wasn't much racing (not ESPN's fault). Glad I recorded it on the DVR and skipped through the boring parts. It saved me a lot of time.

Like a previous poster, I went to my local track and watched the Super Stocks tear it up, and then watched the Cup race off my DVR with breakfast Sunday morning. It goes quite quickly when you do that.

Vicky, no we didn't go to the NW race. In years past, it's been Cup-lite, and we got bored with that. If only they'd restrict Cup drivers and go back to the days where NW was the training ground for up-and-comers....

I really think the trucks is where the action is these days. Young pups and old dogs snarling over the bone. Oh yeah.

A commercial on lap 8 were the sign of bad things to come. The coverage and the race itself were uneventful. I still believe that Nascar can make these cars better to help the racing. Most of the races this season have been a parade of cars following each other which is not good enough. I also believe that good racing on track can help the coverage only of commercials are thrown out of the window.

Agree Tracey! The Pick 'em Ups is where it's at! Even when Cuppers double dip it's usually at a max 3-4 like it use to be years ago with Busch er N'wide. And they can still give Kyle a run for his money. Yes he may stink up the show but the Pick 'em Ups did have a chance!

With N'wide it seems half the field are Cuppers. There have been many races where I've had to look back to darn near 15th to find the first N'wide only guy and many times he wasn't on the lead lap :(

For the first time I actually paused a cup race several times to do laundry. This is significant because I also use Twitter and Scanner so I can usually fill in all the blanks that I get left by the TV coverage. The commercials were so often and so long I knew I could catch up and I did. Next week I will not be home and hope to "watch" via scanner and twitter, I may see a better race than those watching on TV. Thankfully I attend Dover and won't have to deal with ESPN that week either.

Tracy D, your comments are a breath of fresh air because I've been feeling the same way about Richmond lately. I know it's not popular on this blog to say a race might even be a bit boring in person (cause it's ALWAYS the coverage that's to blame), but it's nice to see that someone who reads and posts here actually admits to finding it boring even at the race. And if you were bored surely others were also.I really had trouble staying awake at home for this one. Yes, the coverage is pretty bad, no argument from me. But it seems like this race is no longer a win at all costs race. It's more like a testing session for New Hampshire and it seems like testing always equals ill handling cars and crappy finishes for alot of good drivers.But as usual, I'm sure it was a super race and if not for the coverage I would have been jumping up and down yelling at the TV like I was on Sunday watching my NY Giants play.

I agree with Tracy D that the new car is a major problem. It is just not racy. Richmond was a total bore. You just could not pass anyone. Then add on top of that broadcasters that don't know how to show racing and it is no wonder the ratings are down and the seats are empty.Nascar has to get their head out or we will be relegated to watching F1.

We all know attendance is down due to the fact that those bandwagon fans, not us hardcore ones, but those who jumped on while it was hot finally gave up and stopped going. Well now it's too darn expensive. So attendance goes down. Viewership is down purely because the broadcast is horrible. Period. These races are not boring. They may have some slow periods, as does every sport but they are not boring. The broadcast is though and gives everyone the perception the racing is boring, which is not the case.

I watched a lot of football yesterday, including my Steelers overtime victory. All I can do now is compare that broadcast, and the broadcast of the Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys game to how Nascar is handled.

First, is it even possible to do justice to Nascar on tv? Just like hockey, maybe it's a sport that's best seen in person. But then, I go back in the day, to when CART races were shown and I remember how great those broadcasts were and how the viewers were able to get a true feeling for the action on the track. We sure don't get that now.

How can ESPN broadcast a football game without missing a down while they can only show 10 laps of a race before cutting away to at least 5 minutes of commercials? There's no way it all has to do with money, and how much they paid Nascar for the rights because they've paid a tidy sum to broadcast college and pro football. Or maybe, ESPN overloads commercials on Nascar broadcasts to cover their losses on the number of commercials they only can show during football. Heck, everyone knows that we Nascar fans are undereducated, swill drinking, illiterate hicks who probably don't realize we're being screwed with our pants on when it comes to deserving what every other sports fan gets with regards to how their sports are broadcast. I mean, if the executives at ESPN based their views of Nascar fans on their dealings with Brian France, it's no wonder they look at us like we're bone-headed, selfish, self- absorbed imbeciles

about the racing being boring...frankly, I've been to races that other spectators thought were boring that I enjoyed. People are different in their expectations; the types of things they like to see. Lots of people think Bristol has been boring since they stopped wrecking so much, while I see it as an improvement. But I suspect anon 1:52 is right about the experimentation. Granted, he had nothing to lose, but I wonder if the 88's experiments were designed to help the other teams (and I'm not a Junior fan, particularly.) But it's still TV's job to highlight what IS there, which ESPN has not seemed to be able to do.

Patti. I agree with you. I love races with green flag from start to finish. I dislike crashes, debris cautions, spins, restarts, blown tires, engine failures, etc. I wish every race would go from start to finish with no cautions and single file racing with the occasional pass for 30th place. Those are the best most exciting races and are never boring.

I've sat through boring races. Its one reason I won't go back to Pocono and there are times when the middle of the race at Dover can be a total snooze. The thing that makes it different when you're at the race is that assuming you are at a track where you can see the entire place, you can look around and there might be racing somewhere. At home, we're stuck with whatever camera shot someone wants to show us.

"I’m sorry you did not agree with the decision to broadcast the entire local news between sporting events. If the roles would have been reversed, yes, the local news would have been broadcast in its entirety and a football game would have been joined in progress. Local news is what defines the station and these are the operating procedures spelled out to the staff on the weekends by station management."